There is no way for me to be objective about this movie. Steve Gleason, the former special teams player from the New Orleans Saints and current face of ALS, has done a tremendous service for those suffering from the disease that claimed the life of my father. This documentary of Steve's life tracked the development of the Team Gleason, his non-for-profit organization serving the ALS community. His first goal was so simple, but it was tremendously impactful. When Medicare and Medicad stopped covering speaking devices for those with ALS, Steve's organization set out to provide one to everyone who needed it. He used his fame to also put pressure on politicians to extend public funding for such a necessary medical device. Furthermore, inspired by his own two-week trip through Alaska, Team Gleason organized adventure excursions for wheelchair-bound people suffering from ALS, such as a hike up Machu Picchu.
More than just dump a bunch of information about the good works the foundation does, though, this documentary, like The Theory of Everything, humanizes an extremely difficult disease. Steve and his wife had a child shortly after he was diagnosed, and Michel was left to care for a newborn and her rapidly deteriorating husband (a nice visual juxtaposition: as their child developed new skills and abilities, Steve lost his). There were no perfect heroes in the film: Steve grew testy and sullen as the disease progressed and his wife had the lightness and her optimism slowly ground out down.
Steve is still alive, and his organization (linked below) is still doing great work. I am not sure who would like this movie, but I loved it.
http://www.teamgleason.org/
No comments:
Post a Comment